Company director permanently banned

David Wynd was the sole director and responsible manager of Financial Circle, which was ordered to pay $8,980,000 in total penalties after contravening financial services, credit, and consumer protection laws.

ASIC determined that Mr Wynd should be permanently banned from providing financial services due to his “connection to that misconduct, the seriousness of that misconduct and the likelihood that Mr Wynd would contravene a financial services law in the future”.

Financial Circle offered personal loans of up to $5,000 to consumers that could only be obtained if the consumer agreed to receive and implement financial advice. The advice typically recommended purchasing personal insurance products and switching super providers.

When the advice was implemented, significant fees were paid to Financial Circle directly from the consumer’s superannuation.